Is a language school a reputable one?

They've offered me a job but I'm not sure if it's a very reputable school...

It's one of the questions people are constantly asking when they start applying for TEFL jobs after their course. On this page, webmaster Tom Walton looks at some ways you can find out...

The bigger the better - usually

The size of the school is one indicator that it's reputable, or at least it is here in Barcelona. The bigger -- generally -- the more reputable. The bigger language schools are generally the longer-established, with the most resources, the most cash to ensure you get paid at the end of the month and won't turn round and say on Day 2, sorry, we've decided not to employ you as your wages make the difference between breakeven or pack up the whole show.

The larger Barcelona language schools include ABC, CIC, International House, the Lewis School, Merit, and the British Institute, as well as the North American Institute (US citizens only) and the large university English departments. Of those only one, whose name I will not mention and have never worked for, I would personally not apply to, as I suspect they are less than honest about contracts.

Of course, we did until not too long ago here in Barcelona have some very big cowboy outfits who were distinctly dis reputable (Brighton, Wall Street, Opening...), all of whom folded -- so size is not always a reliable indicator.

Personal recommendation, international standing

Personal recommendation can be dangerous too, but it's one of the best things to go on, and being in the country in question and having contacts there such as local people who might have studied English at the school is something else to go on.

Outside Barcelona, international standing is another indicator. I'd recommend an International House language school, for example, but I wouldn't go for it only on that criteria. You will also get big international operators with a pretty shady reputation. I'd never work for what is almost certainly the largest international Spanish language school chain, for example.

Researching the school on the Internet

Whether or not a school has a website says something about a it. Are they big enough to be able to afford one? What does it say there about them? Typing the school's name into Google (et al) with the name of the city ought to give it to you pretty much straight away. If the school doesn't have a website, that would be one minor thing I'd hold against the place.

(And definitely visit their websites, especially if you get an interview at the place.)

The next place to look is probably the country-by-country forums on Dave's ESL Café. Select your country there and note that requires quite a bit of trawling, skimming and scanning and so on). Note that you can also search the forums (look for the icon at the top of that page).

Searching for the school name, city name and the name of the Director of Studies, if available, will probably give you results. Note that these almost invariably include replies from people saying "I hated the place" and "I love it", so treat what you find with a certain degree of scepticism.

Using Internet search engines

A little further research using a search engine like Google will generally give you information about a particular language school.

Most searchers use only their prefered search engine (for the majority that means Google), most only look at the first 10 results for a given search, and most still only use two word queries ­ all of which are mistakes.

Research it, however reputable it is

Even if the school I was applying to was somewhere I knew to be reputable and safe, say an IH school in Spain, I'd still do the same things, and ­ particularly ­ I'd visit their website, to find out more about them.

Why? So that at an interview, the DoS would see that I had taken a real interest in the school, and wasn't just going round ALL the schools ­ that I was interested in his/her school in particular.